ROLAND GARROS

June 6, 2026

Harri Heliovaara

Henry Patten

Press Conference

GRANOLLERS-ZEBALLOS/Heliovaara-Patten

6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Not the result you wanted today, but what are some positives you can take from the tournament?

HENRY PATTEN: Well, it's the first time we have ever made a Roland Garros final, so that's a big positive. First time we made it past the quarterfinals, in fact. Something to definitely be proud of.

I think on Monday -- we didn't get defaulted today -- so we'll be World No. 1s, which is an amazing achievement. It seemed like Granollers and Zeballos had something to say about that today. They played pretty well.

No, I think it was a disappointing match. In doubles, if you're a little bit off your game, then you can get exposed, particularly on clay. It was incredibly slow out there. They are obviously right at home on the clay courts. They deserved it. They played amazingly, and we were just a little bit off the ball, which can happen.

It's disappointing, but we'll be playing again in a week and, you know, trying to do our best again. So disappointing result today, but I think we can leave with our heads held high.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Well played. Getting to a Grand Slam final on clay means you have discovered how to play on clay. Technically, what do you need to do on clay that you do sort of maybe automatically on faster surfaces?

HENRY PATTEN: Well, it's interesting. We spoke a lot before the tournament about what was important on clay. Are the rallies longer? Do we need to serve differently?

Actually, statistically doubles, the vast majority of points are still decided within the first four shots. So that was our focus this week.

Even though you might sort of lean towards, okay, do we need to grind, crosscourt, groundstrokes for two hours every day to get more prepared on clay? No, actually, it's not all that different from playing on a hard court. That worked pretty well for us for most of the week, anyway.

So I think for us this week it's been about kind of being really clear in what we have been practicing, and it hasn't changed that much, whereas in previous years maybe we have tried to change too much.

This year we kind of tried to stick to our game, and that worked quite well, yeah.

Q. Henry, can you explain what didn't work today?

HENRY PATTEN: Well, definitely our first-serve percentage was too low. Talking about those first four shots, it's really important to be offensive in those moments, especially on clay, and especially against a pair like Granollers and Zeballos who, if you give too many second serves to, you know they're going to put aggressive returns into the court. I think they really punished us for that.

I haven't actually looked at the stats yet, but I would imagine that would be the key difference. I think they probably served a much higher percentage than us, first-serve percentage than us. We won more points on second serve, as well, I would guess. That's usually the case in doubles if you lose.

So I think the serving was probably the biggest difference between us today, yeah.

Q. Congratulations on the whole week. What does it mean personally to both of you to be No. 1? It's a huge achievement.

HARRI HELIOVAARA: It is, yes. It sucks to lose every time (smiling), but yeah, yeah, it's difficult to put that into perspective, like which one is more important, Grand Slam final or No. 1 in the world.

Of course, No. 1 shows that we have done so many things right in the last 12 months. We were very close to it last year here. We have learned from it and we have gotten, you know, further and further. Now we are No. 1s of the world.

So I think that shows that even if we didn't do it last year, a year ago, we could do it now. I think that also maybe gives us some hope that we lost today, and maybe in 12 months we can win the final.

HENRY PATTEN: Yeah, it's an amazing achievement and one that we have been trying to achieve, you know, for a while.

Last year, like Harri said, was really painful for us. It was our first chance. We were going in as the favorites for the match and did not play a good match at all. That really, really hurt us. It kind of took a lot to, yeah, to get to where we are now.

I think, yeah, the No. 1 spot is probably a mark of consistency throughout the year, and yeah, I think obviously every tennis player dreams of being No. 1 in the world. Yes, it's nice to share it with Harri.

Q. For both of you, can you talk about the emotional regulation that goes on in your partnership? One of you is quite high and low, and one of you is maybe a bit more level. How do you manage that on the court when you're having good moments or bad moments? What are those conversations like in terms of cheering each other up or saying, Okay, that's fine, let's keep moving.

HARRI HELIOVAARA: I think when things go well, we actually talk very little on the court. It's a nice kind of trust we have with each other, almost like a bubble that we're in.

Then, okay, well, maybe we remind each other, okay, let's keep the positive energy here. Just do it. On a day like this, it's more difficult, because you're trying to find the right mindset or get the right headspace personally, and then as a team, I think we maybe weren't as good as we would hope to be.

But we work hard. We try our best. When it happens like it happened today, it just shows how difficult it is to be mentally there every time.

HENRY PATTEN: Yeah, well, we have been playing together for a while now, so I'd say we're able to kind of be ourselves on court. I wouldn't say there is a lot of kind of thought.

Once we're playing, there is not a whole lot of thought about what I'm going to say to Harri or what Harri is going to say to me. We are both perfectly comfortable telling each other to get going, or you know, chill out a bit. Whatever we need to say, we're able to say it.

But like Harri said, it does require quite a big effort. I think the margins are so slim in doubles, the mindset and the style of play, which comes from having the right mindset, is incredibly important.

So that's something, you know, we work on, I would say, in practices. You know, every practice that we do, if one of us is a bit, if I'm a bit, sad and, you know, miserable, then Harri will tell me stop it. Or if Harri's getting a bit angry, I'll tell him, For God's sake, Harri, come on. (Smiling.)

Yeah, we spend a lot of time with each other and get very used to how the other one is behaving, so then on court, hopefully it works. Well, it usually does.

Q. In terms of the match, I mean, Zeballos was unbelievable today. Even when he mishit, it went in. Did you start feeling it was one of those days quite early on?

HENRY PATTEN: I think, yeah, we knew -- well, they're unbelievable players. Yeah, we have won some matches against them and we have played very, very well, and they have beaten us and played very, very well.

Yeah, they have incredible skills. You know, they don't really have that many weaknesses if you look at them as a pair. They are real all-around tennis players, which particularly on clay works well.

It's difficult sometimes, you know. But today was so slow, and we broke them quite a lot, as well. It wasn't as if we have completely lost hope. We try not do that, especially when someone is trying to serve for a Grand Slam title. You want to make them earn it.

Yeah, they played really well. Yeah, they fully deserved it.

Q. Henry, just looking ahead to the grass, obviously you have had a super successful season, so how confident are you that you can do something big on home soil?

HENRY PATTEN: Yeah, can't wait to get on the grass. It's been amazing being here, playing on the clay, but I think we're ready for a change. It's on to the green stuff.

HARRI HELIOVAARA: Yeah, I wanted us to continue, and now I want it to end (smiling).

HENRY PATTEN: Yeah, true. Yeah, we're done. After today, that's enough play for the both of us, I think. We've had more than enough.

Yeah, look, it's always exciting playing on home soil. It doesn't happen for me very often, so that's going to be fantastic. It's obviously a surface where we have had good success on before.

Yes, I think we're confident that we will be able, you know, we're completely able to do very, very well on the grass, but as ever, we'll have to work hard for the next week to try and get ourselves as ready as possible, and then take it match by match from there.